Yuanyuan Gu is an Associate Professor at the Centre for the Health Economy at Macquarie University (MUCHE). 

His research is in the broad area of health economics, economics of ageing, choice modelling and econometrics, with a particular interest in preferences, choice, behaviour, and performance in the health and aged care system. His research has been published in journals such as Journal of Health Economics, Health Economics, Social Science & Medicine, Econometrics Journal, PharmacoEconomics, Value in Health, Health Policy, and European Journal of Health Economics. He has been a Chief Investigator or Associate Investigator on over A$14 million in external funding including a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship. 

He is a senior leader within the health policy team and leads the health preference research stream. He is also a senior advisor for the health technology assessment team and a member of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) evaluation team.  

He has taught a number of courses on health economics, econometrics, and choice modelling, with substantial experience in novel teaching techniques such as using videos and interactive online platforms. At Macquarie University, he is one of the key designers and lecturers of the health economics module, a core subject for the recently launched Master of Public Health program. He also provided guest lectures on choice modelling at the Department of Economics.

Health preference research: 

We investigate healthcare stakeholder preferences, choices, and behaviour by employing stated and revealed preference techniques such as discrete choice experiments and economic experiments. Our primary objective is understanding individual decision-making processes and underlying preferences that drive healthcare choices. That includes treatment choices, healthcare service use and medication adherence, choices made by healthcare providers, and preferences for healthcare policy options. Our research seeks to improve health outcomes by providing valuable insights for designing incentives and strategies that enhance healthcare quality, access, value, and equity at a systems level.

Current PhD students:

Zobaida Ahmed Piu, "The economic exploration of Oral Contraceptive Pills in Australia: Consumer preference and welfare" (to submit in 2025, placement: Research Fellow at University of Sydney)

Han Cheng, "An analysis of the relationship between income inequality and health outcomes: Evidence from China and Australia" (to submit in 2025, placement: Assistant Professor in Economics at Xi'an Jiaotong University)

Noura Saba, "Mental health care utilisation in Australia: Exploring the impact of attitudes, co-payments and lockdowns" (expected to complete in 2026) 

Meimei Chen, "Machine learning for causal inference and preference heterogeneity" (expected to complete in 2026)

Shan Jiang, "Moving beyond conventional cost effectiveness analysis" (expected to complete in 2027)

Hengzhe Zhao, "Financing aged care in Australia with superannuation-associated social tax expenditure" (expected to complete in 2028)

Past PhD students:

Qunfei Chen, "The role of uncertainty in health technology assessment in Australia" (completed in 2024, placement: Research Fellow at University of Newcastle)

Yaolin Hu, "Willingness to pay and preferences for Online Medical Consultations among overweight and obese residents in China" (external supervisor, completed in 2022, placement: Postdoc at Peking University)

Debdeep Chattopadhyay, "Essays on health and labour economics" (external supervisor, completed in 2021, placement: Senior Research Analyst at OPEN Health)

Rajan Sharma, "Health economic evaluation of childhood hearing screening" (completed in 2020, placement: Research Fellow at MUCHE)

Personal website: 

sites.google.com/view/yuanyuangu

Email address: 

yuanyuan.gu @mq.edu.au